CANFIELD, Ohio - Women's advocates say it's no coincidence that Wednesday's murder of a teacher in Canfield happened exactly one year after a civil lawsuit was filed by the victim against the suspect, Robert McLaughlin.
Counselors say stalkers are obsessed with dates and anniversaries.
Linda Baer, Legal Advocate Supervisor at Someplace Safe in Warren, looked at the details of Stacey Sutera's lawsuit against Robert McLaughlin.
"It looked like she was doing everything she could to protect herself. It looked like the court was also taking him very seriously, and the stalking, and doing what they could to protect her."
Among the conditions of the protection order: McLaughlin could not have verbal or physical contact with Sutera. He was not permitted to use the Internet or a computer, he was not allowed in Mahoning County, he was not allowed to leave Lake County, and he was not allowed to possess any firearms.
Bear says most of the time protection orders are effective in stopping the stalking. "But you have a small percentage of people out there.. it's just a piece of paper and it really doesn't mean anything."
Advocates urge that anyone who feels they're being stalked to contact an agency that specializes in domestic violence and stalking; the sooner the better.
Those agencies can help victims create a safety plan and a support network.
Counselors tell victims to document every incident. That may include calling 911so that it's on record in the call center and file police reports.
Also, keep every letter, text, anything sent from the stalker. "If they're getting notes on their cars, a lot of times they'll throw them in the trash because they don't want anything to do with them. They'll delete voice mails. We try to encourage them to keep all of it because that's part of our documentation."
In 2010 Robert McLaughlin served some time for his stalking offenses, but was recently sentenced to probation, which was agreed upon by the police, prosecutor's office and the victim.
